Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan ad

What happened

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Saturday that a Canadian TV ad criticizing tariffs was a “hostile act,” and in response, “I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now.” The ad, paid for by the province of Ontario, features former President Ronald Reagan explaining how import taxes hurt the economy. Trump first objected to the ad in a post on Thursday, saying it had pushed him to cancel trade talks with Canada. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Friday he would suspend the ad after the weekend.

Who said what

“Ronald Reagan LOVED Tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy, but Canada said he didn’t!” Trump said in the post on Saturday, while en route to Malaysia. “Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD.” He claimed in Thursday’s post that Canada’s goal was to “interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,” which is set to decide whether to overrule two lower courts that determined Trump’s broad tariffs are unlawful.

“It was unclear what legal authority Trump would use to impose the additional import taxes” on Canada or which goods would be affected, The Associated Press said. But Reagan was clearly “wary of tariffs and used much of the 1987 address featured in Ontario’s ad spelling out the case against tariffs.” The ad is a “kind of propaganda against U.S. citizens,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “What was the purpose of that other than to sway public opinion?”

What next?

The Supreme Court “isn’t likely to be influenced by anything other than the law,” but the president’s “tantrum against Canada” is a “good argument for the justices to rein in his tariff power,” The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial. Trump “claims he’s not ‘a king,’ but on tariffs he is acting like one.” He and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “will both attend” this week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Malaysia, the AP said, but Trump “told reporters traveling with him that he had no intention of meeting Carney there.”

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